Becoming the Fearless Girl You were Born to Be

Fearless Girl

On the eve of International Women’s Day a statue of a girl whose affectionately been dubbed the fearless girl, was erected on Wall Street. When I first saw and read about this I got so excited because, in such a male-dominated industry, the finance industry, isn’t exactly known for embracing feminism. In fact, a Morningstar study showed the following as reported by Bloomberg:

“Less than 10% of all U.S. fund managers are women; women exclusively run about 2% of the industry’s assets and open-end funds. By contrast, men exclusively run about 74% of the industry’s assets and 78% of funds, with mixed-gender teams accounting for the balance.”

I currently work in the financial industry, and as captioned in my Instagram picture below, I’ve always wanted to break the glass ceiling in this field. Naive perhaps, but pursuing that dream caused me to pack up my kids and my bags and move almost 4,000 miles across the Atlantic. It’s funny what passionately pursuing your dreams will have you do. People will you crazy, people called me crazy. But I legit didn’t even see the big deal. My vision thankfully blinded me from the gajillion things that could’ve gone wrong. After all, going to school full time with a 1 and 3-year-old in tow, without daycare figured out might seem a little cray cray. I just knew I’d figure it out once I was in the country.

Growing up one of my dreams was always to climb the corporate ladder, especially in the financial industry. I even wrote my last year thesis on women breaking the glass ceiling in the financial industry. This desire heavily influenced my choice to move from Sweden to Canada. This is why, on the eve of #IWD2017, the newly erected statue of a #fearless girl in front of the famous charging bull on #wallstreet speaks volumes to me. I haven’t broken any glass ceilings per se, but I’m grateful I get to live a life in purpose and pursue new dreams that life has given rise to. I hope that wherever you live, whatever your desires, that you pursue them fearlessly 💕 #happywomensday #womensday #internationalwomensday

A post shared by Violette Willis (@absolutviolette) on

That said, the move to add the statue in front of the iconic, 28-year-old Wall Street “Charging Bull” statue is one for the history books. Campaigns have already started petitioning that the statue becomes a permanent fixture, opposed to the 30 days originally intended. After only 2 days, it’s already a tourist attraction, drawing crowds young and old. And yes, men too are appreciative of what she stands for. I’m sure there’s an old man somewhere who’s opposed to change and forward progress who’s not too happy but is wisely keeping that opinion to himself, lol.

The other thing that crossed my mind is the meaning of a girl. Not a grown woman, but a girl. It says so much more. It says, we’re not born afraid, it’s something we learn growing up due to a myriad of reasons. If we allow ourselves to embrace who God made us, yes women and girls; but also yes, fearless, fierce, and fabulous. And there isn’t one “Bull-y” that can stop us because the only thing we need to fear is fear itself. (Roosevelt).

Two fearless girls celebrating #internationalwomensday on Wall Street. #fearlessgirl #happiness #nyc

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I don’t know what your dreams are, but I know this. They’re worth pursuing. Use this weekend to draft your master plan of self-domination. Nobody, other than Jesus, rules and reigns over your life. Don’t let “they” tell you what you can and cannot do. “Well think about the kids,” they say. Tell them, if it benefits you, it’ll benefit the kids. Kids adapt. It may not always be fun, but they are resilient. My kids have had to change schools and tears were shed. But they LOVE their new school.

I think many times the very people we want to better our lives for, also become the “excuse” as to why we can’t pursue our dreams. Like I said, children are resilient, which is another the #fearlessgirl makes so much sense. Being a mother doesn’t mean that your dreams are put on pause until they turn 18. Granted, your dreams may change once having children. For instance, hanging out in the boardroom until 9 pm might have seemed fun pre-kids. Not so much anymore. Although I’ll always have a love for everything investments and financial planning, the dream looks a bit different.

In closing ladies, never stop dreaming, cause you were made fearless!

For more on how The Fearless Girl came to be, check out this interview in Adweek.

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